who knows 1... counting the omer day by day

who knows 1 to 50 is a daily drawing project to count the days of the omer. The omer is the period of time from the freedom festival of pesach to the festival of receiving knowledge on Shavuot. it is seven weeks, 7 x 7 days, with Shavuot as the 50th day. each day I will draw barley grains that correspond to the number of the day, exploring the poetry of the numbers.

Monday, 30 November 2015

All of these omer drawings were done in a small sketchbook, and so they were not something I expected to see together. And then, thanks to Yair Medina of the Jerusalem Print Studio, who made a beautiful gilcee print of the drawings, that faithfully show the pencil lines and delicate watercolour. A print is currently on display at the Jewish Museum in London, as part of their Sacrifice show.

the print is approx 70 x 70 cm. please contact me if you are interested in purchasing a print.

Monday, 2 June 2014

and of course, this is what this counting has been all about - 49 days of the omer. seven weeks of seven days between pesach, the festival of freedom from the narrow places, to Shavuot. the festival of being open and receiving Torah, wisdom, commitment to a relationship of a life of constructing and creating meaning.... we are here. we have travelled through the weeks of ever increasing complexity.

and 49 is the number of days and nights that Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, spent meditating. This counting, like previous years, has ended up in a completely different place than where I thought it would go. I thought I might end up going 3D as the numbers got too big to go around a circle. But they never got too big to go around the circle. The circle got slightly bigger... (fyi these drawings are in 2 5 x 5" sketchbooks. each circle is approx 10cm diameter. They were drawn with a H pencil, then painted with water-colour. My starting point was just to plot the numbers and find how they resonate, or not, within jewish tradition and general culture. And to make pretty patterns with a compass and ruler. Which is very enjoyable, and as the patterns got more complex, they became quite meditative and calming to paint. I really like how this series developed, and find the earlier ones crude and want to go back and redo them. I won't of course - that would belie the transformation that occurred during these 49 days. and I do need to give my eyes a bit of a rest. definitely had eye-strain during the last week.so thank you to everyone who has followed these drawings, and supported yet another crazy drawing-a-day project. chag samech

Sunday, 1 June 2014

earlier today Malka Shindler died. She was a young woman who was one of the office admin at the London School of Jewish Studies, where my husband works and I sometimes teach. Malka was always so lovely, super organised and efficient, and extremely helpful and friendly to all. Despite knowing how ill she had been, her death comes as a horrible shock. And I find it hard to understand that I will not see her again. I would like to dedicate this counting in memory of Malka - may her memory be for a blessing.

47 is an in-joke in Star Trek, popping up in most episodes. it came from one of the writers who was taught by Prof Donald Bentley at Pomona College, California, as a joke mathematical proof that all numbers are to equal 47. 47 has now been taken up by the film director JJ Abrams and used in many of his works.

45 pillars in the House of the Forest of Lebanon, which Solomon built as part of the Temple, and his Palace. this is where he sat and judged cases.
no. of years Joshua lived after first going to land of Israel to spy it out, and then finally conquering it.

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why barley?

the barley harvest was the omer brought by the ancient Israelites to the Temple. Barley is also the smallest unit of measurement, e.g. a grain of barley is the minimum size of bone in order to make something ritually impure.

who knows one?

Who knows one? is a song sung on pesach, although it was not originally composed for seder night it has entered our haggadahs and becomes the silly song to sing with actions, in various languages, as children and adults alike are all a little daft with too much wine and no sleep. (there are serious interpretations that it is about the shema, the number 13 and the political/religious debates of jewish history... ) the first 13 of this counting will begin with the line from this song. after that we are on our own.

omer drawings

for the last 3 years I have done this ritualised counting of the omer using a daily drawing. for some reason, it is 'easier' to do this counting if it involves a 30min drawing than just saying the blessing and stating the day, that takes perhaps a minute or two.

omer 2013 - to have and to hold - on the journey to receive, what are we holding onto?

omer 2012 - gather the broken, with Amichai Lau-Lavie - to collect and understand the broken side of life

omer 2011 - I am still alive - noticing the lost and discarded stuff of life, and acknowledging each day on the process.